Elon Musk’s X sues Indian govt, flags creation of ‘Sahyog’ to take down posts

Elon Musk-owned social media platform X (formerly Twitter) has moved the Karnataka High Court, challenging the Central government's creation and use of the ‘Sahyog’ portal, an online platform that allows agencies to issue information-blocking orders without adhering to the safeguards mandated by Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act).

The company has alleged that the Sahyog Portal and related government actions bypass the statutory framework established by the IT Act and the Supreme Court's landmark judgment in Shreya Singhal v. Union of India.

The petition comes just hours after the Central government asked X to clarify the responses generated by its AI chatbot, Grok.

Bar and Bench has reported that X Corp filed the petition in response to multiple take down orders issued by the Union Ministry of Railways in the aftermath of posts on the recent New Delhi Railway Station stampede.

Justice M Nagaprasanna heard the case briefly on March 17 and adjourned it to March 27.

X has flagged the government's use of Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act to issue information-blocking orders.

The company has noted that the provision, which exempts intermediaries from liability for third-party content, is being misused to create an unlawful parallel mechanism for blocking information.

Contending that Section 79(3)(b) does not authorise the government to issue information-blocking orders, the plea pointed out that such powers are exclusively governed by Section 69A of the IT Act, which was upheld by the Supreme Court in Shreya Singhal, provided safeguards are adhered to.

X has charged the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) with directing Central and State government agencies, including local police officers to issue information-blocking orders under Section 79(3)(b), circumventing the Section 69A process.

It has also alleged that MeitY provided a "template blocking order" to facilitate these actions, which X claims is in violation of the Supreme Court's ruling.

Additionally, X has challenged the creation of the Sahyog Portal by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), which allows central and state agencies to issue blocking orders under Section 79(3)(b).

What has X sought from the High Court?

The micro-blogging site has sought a declaration that Section 79(3)(b) does not authorize the government to issue information-blocking orders, which are exclusively governed by Section 69A.

It has requested the quashing of the impugned notifications and restraining the government from taking prejudicial action against X related to the illegal blocking orders and the Censorship Portal.

It has also sought interim relief to restrain the government from taking coercive action against X for not complying with blocking orders issued outside the Section 69A process or for refusing to join the Censorship Portal.